Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Lightning Field

In reading about Walter De Maria's Lightning Field, installed in a remote desert area of southwestern New Mexico in 1977, I know that I would enjoy this work and that I could happily spend a lifetime traveling around to view this type of land art.

The Lightning Field comprises 400 polished, stainless-steel poles that are about 20 feet, 7 inches high, pointed at the top, and spaced 220 feet apart in a grid measuring one mile by one kilometer. Although the area's frequent lightning strikes can create a stunning display, lightning is not required to make the poles worth seeing. Apparently the effect of the sunset and sunrise and the changing colors of the light --pink and orange--moving up and down the poles is quite magical. The artist intended the work to be viewed over time, between the hours of sunset and sunrise. For that reason, visitors to the field must stay in a cabin on the property overnight.

Alas, the terms for seeing the Lightning Field are pretty strict. You must make a reservation and agree to be picked up in a small town in New Mexico named Quemado, which is more than two and a half hours from Albuquerque. From there you are driven to the remote cabin 45 minutes away, where a couple of meals have been left for you in the fridge. What happens if you have an emergency while out at the cabin is unclear. You are picked up at noon the next day.

Photography of the place is prohibited, and I have mixed feelings about that. I understand that it is a work of art, and is copyrighted. But at least with paintings in a museum, you can see a reproduction to get a hint of the experience of seeing the real thing. It seems to me that by the same token, some reproduction of the experience ought to be allowed. There are slides available for purchase, and perhaps that is a reasonable solution. But how many people these days have a slide projector? Does a photograph really infringe on the copyright, when it is the actual experience of being there and seeing it in three dimensions that is the true artwork? I'm not sure what the answer is, but the Lightning Field's restrictions make it difficult to share the beauty of the place. The only photograph on the official website is the one above.

I found a blog on the internet where someone posted photos from their trip there. Obviously they violated copyright, and maybe I shouldn't encourage you to take a look. But their photos of the Lightning Field at dusk --with the sun hitting the poles ---are very pretty and cool.

Below is the link.


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://joeberkovitz.com/photos/NM/lf3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://joeberkovitz.com/blog/2007/05/16/new-mexico-episode-1-the-church-of-cartesian-space/&usg=__o6MVMizXQJ1DCb_rX5mML7Yoyc8=&h=486&w=648&sz=332&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=DvmqiPgDb2EyEM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlightning%2Bfield%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

10 comments:

  1. do you HAVE to stay in the remote cabin?? can one not just drive to this art installation? is there security or something?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool!!!! Cool Cool! I love stuff like this. And yeah, way big bummer about no pics--I peeked for a second at the link (shhhh). This is awesome--Thanks for sharing this! This makes me want to search Google Images for some Christo pics. Yay Inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, you HAVE to stay in the cabin. AND YOU CAN'T DRIVE THERE YOURSELF. That makes it kind of creepy to me. They won't allow anybody to come in their own vehicle. (So what do you do with the rental car you left back in Quemado?) It's very heavily controlled, the whole thing. You have to totally depend on these people to take you out there and pick you up the next day. And it costs $150 to $250 a night, depending on if it's off-season or peak season.

    ReplyDelete
  4. well,,that's too bad,,not being able to have access without some big bucks. i always thought art was supposed to be available to the masses. what? no u-tube video?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pretty cool and weird. I would feel nervous about being in that cabin and having to depend on someone to come pick me up. What if they died or something?

    These guys are control freaks. They're the Pink Floyd of the visual world.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I know. Being left in that cabin with no transportation --and having to depend on them to come back for you --that's just going too far, if you ask me. It's putting art above human comfort and safety, which I don't think is cool. Control freaks, for sure.
    Maybe that was tolerable in the 70's but I don't think it makes sense in this day and age.

    ReplyDelete
  7. boy...they could be burying bodies underneath those poles, pocketing the couple hundred bucks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Exactly! I'd want to be sure and alert family members before heading out to "the cabin." There probably isn't even cell phone coverage out there. The guy who blogged about it seemed postive about the experience, but he did say that the cabin had few amenities. Being at these people's mercy ---and no amenities--would defintely create a surreal experience.

    ReplyDelete
  9. the photos of the poles at sunset are just beautiful and breathtaking, by the way. what a shame that so few get to experience them.

    ReplyDelete